A 13-year-old girl was among those arrested after the PSNI attackednationalist anti-internment bonfires this week.

Bonfires were lit in several areas of Belfast at about 10pm onWednesday evening to mark the 41st anniversary of the introduction ofinternment without trial in 1971.

The Six-County government has moved to suppress the bonfires, which havebecome associated with the ongoing internment of 'dissident'republicans.

Trouble quickly broke out between the PSNI and local youths in a numberof locations.

Rioting broke out in Belfast while there were also serious disturbancesin Banbridge, County Down.

Some of the worst rioting broke out in the Divis Street area of westBelfast, where petrol bombs were thrown, but there was also trouble inNew Lodge in the north of the city and at North Queen Street.

Trouble was also reported in the Stewartstown Road area of west Belfast.

In some locations, burning barricades were set up, while fire crews,tasked to extinguish the fires, also came under attack.

A total of six were arrested in Belfast, and two more arrested inBanbridge. They were charged with obstructing police, rioting, andresisting police.

West Belfast Assembly member Fra McCann condemned the bonfires.

"Young children who collect the wood have been encouraged to do so byolder people in the background and these people need to come forwardand explain what good the bonfire does for the area and its people,"hesaid.

"I was interned twice and as a former internee these bonfires certainlydo not represent any marking of that time in our history.

"They should stop and the people encouraging them need to explain to thecommunity why they continue to do so."

Fellow Councillor Conor Maskey, who organised the removal of bonfirematerial from the area a number of times in recent weeks, blamedrepublican hardliners for the trouble. A banner bearing his name wasreportedly hung from an anti-internment bonfire in New Lodge.

"Their only contribution to life in the New Lodge is destruction,facilitating attacks on republican ex prisoners and giving young peoplecriminal records," he said.

"The banner with my name on it has only made me more determined thanever to continue the work of trying to make life better for the peopleof the New Lodge area."

PROTEST

The following day, the James Connolly republican society in Belfastcalled a protest against internment on Black mountain, in which a giant'END INTERNMENT' sign was erected on the mountain overlooking the westof the city. A similar protest, against the royal visit last month, wasattacked by a loyalist mob.

"Internment 21st century style is not only still in use, its use is nowmuch more draconian than at any time in the past or in any other countryin the world," the group said in a statement.

"The present day English administrator, Owen Paterson, not only deprivesIrish citizens of their liberty without recourse to a judicial process.In the cases of Marian Price and Martin Corey this administrator hasalso over-ruled the decision of two high court judges who decreed thatthey had no charges to answer and should be released immediately.

"Such injustices can only exist when 'good men and women' do nothing."

Securocrats have been strongly criticised for a ham-fisted attempt toevacuate over a hundred homes in west Belfast last week -- beforedeclaring that a claimed rocket attack on a PSNI police landrover,which prompted the evacuations, had been a hoax.

Residents of the Glen Road area in west Belfast refused to follow PSNIorders to move to evacuation centres, forcing the PSNI to back down.

Most just refused to leave. And hours later, the cordon was lifted andthose residents who left were allowed to return.

A gun attack by a breakaway IRA group using the name 'Oglaigh nahEireann' was mounted on the PSNI in the strongly republican area twoweeks ago. Almost a week later, a claim was made to a Belfast newspaperthat the group had simultaneously launched a rocket attack.

Still images of a video of the alleged attack were published, althoughthe video recording itself never emerged into the public domain.

Over a day after the report came out, there were surprising andconflicting statements from the PSNI, who announced the evacuation of agiant area at the top of the Glen Road. Hundreds of residents wereshocked to find they had been ordered to take refuge in a communityshelter for three days.

The evacuation was ostensibly ordered to allow an inch-by-inch searchfor the unexploded rocket -- but it was almost immediately followed by apolice announcement that no rocket attack had in fact taken place.

The evacuation was reminiscent of previous episodes of communitypunishment on nationalist areas in the aftermath of IRA attacks.

Thankfully, most local people refused to pay heed to the PSNI's direwarnings.

Workmen at a building site near the scene of the security operation,which included a bomb disposal robot, continued as normal, as did anearby summer scheme.

Residents could be seen out and about walking dogs and chatting withneighbours. Some householders, living just 200 yards from where policewere centring their operation, just sat outside their homes.

There was a widespread suspicion that a British security agenda, notpublic safety, was responsible for the evacuation order.

One resident, who did not want to be named, criticised the police andtheir request for householders to vacate homes for three days.

"They can't force us to go. I don't think there's any reason for it,"she said.

Some recalled the British 'psy ops' (psychological operations) andother bizarre actions of British military intelligence which werecommon at the height of the conflict.

Another resident, who also did not want to be identified, said she wasrefusing to leave the home she shares with her father, who has dementia,disabled brother and two dogs.

The woman, who described the PSNI's handling of the situation as"diabolical", said they planned to keep her pets "in a van for threedays'.

She and her family said: "If they were that worried, why didn't they dosomething about it yesterday and not this morning, all of a sudden?"

Concerns have been expressed over major Protestant marching seasonevents planned for the overwhelmingly nationalist cities of Derry andNewry this month.

Residents of Derry are already leaving in droves ahead of the year'slargest loyalist parade, which is forced on the city every August.

An anticipated 15,000 members of the Apprentice Boys organisation --accompanied by 140 'kick the Pope' bands -- are expected in the citytomorrow [Saturday] for an event which is detested by locals.

Every year, residents criticise the effective closure of the city as aresult of the parade. Dressed in red, white and blue, or in suits andbowler hats, the marchers walk through and around Derry to mark amedieval Protestant battle victory, 'the siege of Derry'.

However, unlike the openly sectarian Orange Order, the Apprentice Boysorganisation has broadly engaged in talks with nationalist groups, andserious disorder has been avoided in recent years.

THREE DAYS OF MARCHES

In Newry, another sectarian "show of strength" is planned, with threedays of unionist marches at the end of this month.

From Friday 24th August until Sunday 26th August, a total of fiveunionist parades will take place with over 3,000 participants and 50bands taking over the streets of Newry.

Thousands of unionist bandsmen and supporters will be bussed into theCounty Armagh city from across the Six Counties for what eirgi said was"triumphalism" and "a sectarian coat-trailing exercise".

Stephen Murney, the local spokesperson for the socialist republicanparty, said, "Just last month we had thousands of unionists accompaniedby dozens of bands descending on Newry leaving the area a virtual ghosttown.

"Band members and participants shouted insults at local people observingand even rushed to attack a local photographer.

"A massive security operation sealed Newry off and most people couldn'tgo about their daily business. I have no doubt that this upcomingsectarian ritual will mean the same for the nationalist people ofNewry."

Murney continued, "Before and after the 12th of July our party wereinundated with complains from local people who are sick and tired ofthis happening time and time again. The fact that this next disruptivedemonstration will take place over a three day period will mean thatmany nationalist people in Newry will have to endure an entire weekendof sectarian intimidation and bigotry."

TOURISTS SAY NO

Meanwhile, the Sinn Fein mayor of Limavady in County Derry has saidthere had been no unionist reciprocation to the removal of tricolourflags in the town earlier this year, which was facilitated by his party.

Mayor Cathal McLaughlin said there were too many unionist flags andOrange parades in the town, and that it was affecting tourism.

Most recent figures have pointed to a decline in overseas visitornumbers to the North of 5%. The decline comes despite the spending offive million pounds on an advertising campaign.

"The proliferation of unionist flags is a disgrace," he said. "Thissends out a menacing signal to tourists whom we are actively trying toattract."

"Welcome to Northern Ireland" road signs have been provocatively raisedin border areas of the North by the Ulster Unionist minister forregional development, Danny Kennedy.

Kennedy, who has frequently desribed himself as a moderate unionist,denied the move was intended to be inflammatory.

At least twelve signs were erected this week by the North's roadservice, acting under instrution from the Minister.

The development runs counter to peace process efforts to eliminateobvious indicators of the border between the British-ruled North andthe 26 County state in the South, and may mark a new hardline stance bythe UUP.

Locals have now destroyed at least three of the signs, which Mr Kennedyclaimed were "a point of information".

Referring to those which had been destroyed, Mr Kennedy said: "I'm sureall political representatives will join me in condemning what is anillegal act".

Sinn Fein Assembly member Phil Flanagan called on the UUP man to orderthe removal of the remaining signs "as soon as possible".

"The erection of these signs has angered many living in bordercommunities who suffer the negative impact of partitlon on a daily basisand a large proportion of them are completely opposed to the unnaturaldivision of Ireland," Mr Flanagan said.

But in a hardening of the unionist position, former UUP leader TomElliott was reported as saying the only 'real victims' of the conflictwere those killed by the IRA.

The comments, which were reported in a weekly newspaper, provoked anangry response from SDLP Assembly member Patsy McGlone who called them"crass and insenstive" and asked that they be withdrawn immediately.

"Tom Elliott's remarks are so abhorrent as to be breathtak ing and hehas d isgraced his office as a public representative, but moregrievously than that, he has dishonoured the memory of over 3,000 men,women and children on all sides of our society whose lives were lost inthe Troubles.

"He must withdraw his comments immediately and apologise to the familiesof all those he publicly dismissed as, in effect, worthless."

The brother of a Ballymurphy boy who was shot in the back by a BritishArmy sniper 35 years ago has appealed for witnesses to come forward asthe Historical Enquiries Team (HET) looks into his death. Paul 'Jason'McWilliams was just 16 years old and on temporary release from StPatrick's Training School on the Glen Road to attend his grandmother'sfuneral when he was killed near Corry's timber yard close to his home inSpringhill Avenue on August 9, 1977 - the week of Queen Elizabeth'ssilver jubilee.

The circumstances of young Paul's death sparked controversy at the time.A statement issued by the British Army shortly after the killing claimedhe had been throwing petrol bombs near Corry's timber tard duringserious rioting and that he was shot after being warned twice by Britishsoldiers. That's a claim strongly denied by the McWilliams family.

In response to that statement, Sinn Fein claimed they had twoeyewitnesses who said there had been no "serious rioting" in the area atthe time of Paul's death and that the teenager had been shot in the backas he tried to get through a gap in a fence while attempting to escapeBritish Army bullets. The eyewitnesses also claim that, contrary to thestatement issued by the army, no warnings were ever given to Paul beforehe was shot in the back.

Speaking this week about his brother's killing, Thomas McWilliams, whowas only 10 when Paul was killed, appealed for anyone with informationon the murder to come forward.

"Paul's nickname was Jason, and he was a very popular lad and well likedin the area where we lived," recalls Thomas, one of 11 children in theMcWilliams family.

"Ballymurphy in the 1970s was dominated by army bases andfortifications. There were constant armed foot patrols and raids onpeople's homes. Like a lot of young people there at that time, Paul wasalways being stopped, searched and abused by British soldiers, so that'swhy he joined the IRA. A year before his death he was arrested forrioting and convicted of riotous behaviour and was placed in StPatrick's Training School."

On the death of his grandmother in early August 1977, Paul was giventemporary release from the training centre to attend her funeral, butstayed out an extra day to take part in the annual commemoration eventsto mark the introduction of internment.

"He had been due to go back to St Pat's on August 8," said Thomas, "buthe stayed out an extra day. In those days the commemoration usuallybegan with the lighting of bonfires followed by the banging of binlidsand the blowing of whistles at the stroke of 4am. The protestors wouldthen march to the army fortifications and street violence usuallyerupted between the soldiers and local youths."

After the post-protest rioting had subsided, Paul was making his wayback to the family's Springhill Avenue home with his brotherChristopher.

"As they were walking a single shot rang out from a soldier from theLight Infantry Regiment positioned in Corry's timber yard, hitting Paulin the back," said Thomas.

"When the ambulance arrived to take Paul to the Royal it was stopped atthe bottom of the Whiterock Road by a party of RUC members and armyofficers who checked the vehicle, delaying it for several minutes. Pauldied before he got to hospital."

Thomas said he can still hear his mother's scream when she was told herson was dead.

"It's a memory I will take to my grave," he said. "I can just rememberthe feeling of pure and utter sadness. Our father had just died the yearbefore from lung cancer. My mother had just buried her mother so she wasfinding it difficult enough to cope with my father's death and now shehad to bury her mother and son. She was never the same after he died andshe often blamed herself for it happening - she used to say if only shehad made him go back to St Pat's on August 8 he would never have beenkilled. She suffered greatly at the hands of the British, even beforePaul died, as she had four sons and a daughter interned without trial."

The 1979 inquest into Paul's death returned an open verdict.

"None of the soldiers involved in the death attended the inquest, amilitary representative just read out statements from them," saidThomas.

"None of the clothes Paul was wearing when he was killed were everreturned to us, nor were his possessions, despite our requests."

Around a decade later, the family's emotional wounds were reopened withthe publication of a book recalling the experiences of British Armypersonnel during the conflict in the North.

In the 1998 book, 'Brits Speak Out', a former member of the LightInfantry Regimen, Bob Harker, who was stationed in Ballymurphy at thetime of Paul's death, referred to the teenager's murder in hiscontribution to the book.

"He [Bob Harker] revealed the scene inside the barracks after Paul wasshot," said Thomas. "He said a British soldier who was a member of hissection had been shot dead on the same morning as Paul in retaliationfor his death.

"The regimental colonel visited the barracks shortly afterwards and waswearing full ceremonial uniform as the Queen was to the visit that weekas part of her silver jubilee tour and they were toasting her arrival.Bob said the colonel's opening remarks to the soldiers were, 'Well,chaps, it's a sad thing we have lost one of our soldiers today, but wehad a good kill this morning.'"

Since last September, Thomas has been engaging with the HET in itsreinvestigation of his brother's killing.

"It has been a very emotional and tiring process," said Thomas.

"Paul was shot on the last jubilee visit of the Queen in August 1977 -35 years ago this week - and he was shot in the back with his hands inthe air, according to his post mortem records. The Ministry of Defenceand the British Army claimed he was throwing petrol bombs yet not oneshred of evidence links Paul to any petrol bombing.

"He was just five feet two inches tall and seven stone in weight when hewas killed, so anyone with eyes in their head could clearly see theywere looking at a boy and not a man."

Thomas said nothing would give his family more satisfaction than to seethe soldier responsible for the shooting of Paul brought to justice.

"We've been able to see the inquest records and the statements given byeight soldiers at the time of the inquest and they all sound like theycome from the same person," said Thomas.

"It turns my stomach that they have been able to hide behind theMinistry of Defence for 35 years for what they have done, with no properaction taken against them.

"Currently the HET is re-interviewing seven of the soldiers involved,but the solicitor for the one who pulled the trigger has stated he isnot medically fit to give a statement. The HET will challenge this."

The SDLP has said a serving British soldier has desecrated the memory ofthose who died on Bloody Sunday by posting an offensive slogan on theinternet.

The Royal Irish Regiment (RIR) soldier's Facebook page - which has sincebeen removed - included a Parachute Regiment emblem with the words:"F*** Bloody Sunday' above it.

SDLP victims spokesperson Colum Eastwood says the serving soldier - whohe named - should be dismissed from the British Army "without delay."

The Foyle Assembly member, who is a member of the Bloody Sunday Trust,said: "I have seen photographs of this man's Facebook page and thedisgusting banner he has put across the top as a 'cover image'.

"Prime Minister David Cameron has described the actions of forces onBloody Sunday as 'unjustified and unjustifiable' and I regard this imagein the same vein.

"To trample on the memory of those who were shot dead while trying toprotect civil rights for all, and to do so in such an offensive andcraven manner is, frankly, abhorrent, and makes me sick to my stomach.

"This cannot even be called thoughtlessness as posting anything on yourFacebook page requires a conscious decision.

"The families of Bloody Sunday at the very least deserve a full andunequivocal apology and I hope that will be forthcoming immediately.

"However, if the Ministry of Defence want to prove that they agree withDavid Cameron's assessment of the forces' actions on Bloody Sunday, theyshould dismiss this man from the army without delay."

In a statement, a spokesman for the British government said: "The viewsexpressed by this individual are categorically not those of the Army northe Ministry of Defence."

In March of this year, a Protestant teenager in Derry created acontroversy after he posted an equally shocking Facebook comment aboutBloody Sunday.

After Derry City's soccer defeated their Linfield rivals, ChristopherMiddleton wrote; "They my have won tonight but we can take concilationin the fact the Paras beat them 13-0 on a Sunday many years ago ;-)"

Middleton, who's from the nationalist cityside, said he had been forcedto leave his home over the controversy, but later apologised for thecomment.

July 31 2012 marked the 40th anniversary of Operation Motorman, theBritish army's invasion of the "no-go" areas in Derry and Belfast.

The trigger for the mass invasion - the largest mobilisation of Britishtroops since Suez - is widely believed to have been the Bloody Fridaybombings by the IRA in Belfast 10 days earlier, which killed nine peopleand injured over 100.

However, the no-go areas - in particular Free Derry, which had been inplace since 1969 - had long been a source of embarrassment to theBritish government.

Operation Motorman began six months almost to the day after BloodySunday which saw members of the Parachute Regiment murder 14 unarmedcivilians during a civil rights march on January 30.

It has been suggested that Bloody Sunday was an earlier abortive attemptto retake the nationalist areas of the Bogside, Brandywell and Creggan.

In the days before July 30, about 4,000 extra troops were brought intoNorthern Ireland. Involved were almost 22,000 soldiers - including 27infantry and two armoured battalions - aided by 5,300 soldiers from thelocal Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR).

Bulldozers and Centurion tanks were deployed on the streets of Derry tosmash through the barricades, and in an extraordinary move Royal Navybattleships were moored off the coast of Donegal ready to shell theBogside.

The operation began at about 4am on July 31 and lasted for severalhours. Two people - an innocent teenage civilian and an unarmedProvisional IRA volunteer - were shot dead.

The teenager was 15-year-old Daniel Hegarty. He was shot along with histwo cousins as they walked along Creggan Heights in Derry.

The boys had gone out to see the tanks and watch the operation unfold.Daniel was shot twice in the head from close range by a member of theRoyal Scots Regiment and was killed outright.

One of his cousins, Christopher Hegarty, survived being struck in thehead by a bullet.

Nineteen-year-old Provisional IRA member Seamus Bradley was shot,according to the military account, as he stood on the bough of a tree inBishop's Field close to Central Drive.

The soldier who shot him claimed that Bradley had been armed at thetime. But when a group of soldiers arrived to arrest him no weapon wasfound.

Bradley was taken away in a Saracen armoured personnel carrier andapparently bled to death in custody. It is alleged that he may have beentortured. An autopsy found that Bradley had been shot "at least fourtimes."

On the day Hegarty and Bradley were killed, cabinet secretary Sir BurkeTrend wrote to prime minister Edward Heath stating that "no more than 32rounds were fired by the army during the operation. Five gunmen wereseen to be hit and two killed, and two wounded bodies were recovered."

In the House of Lords the same day, secretary of state for defence LordCarrington stated: "The information I have about the two that werekilled is that one was 19 and the other 16 (sic), and that one wasapparently in possession of arms while the other is suspected of being agunman."

This clearly labels Hegarty as a gunman and the smear was compounded inJune 2007, 35 years later, when the Ministry of Defence (MoD) released adocument that described Hegarty as a "terrorist" and claimed that he wasarmed.

Following pressure from campaigners and the Hegarty family, the MoDwithdrew the claim and apologised for the document, accepting that"Daniel was innocent and that the reference to him as a terrorist wasinaccurate."

No-one has ever been charged with the killing of Hegarty. An initialinquest in 1973 recorded an open verdict.

However, a new inquest was ordered in 2009 after a review of the case bythe historical inquiries team found that the original Royal UlsterConstabulary investigation had been hopelessly inadequate and dreadful."

In December 2011 an inquest jury unanimously found that the 15-year-oldhad posed no risk when he was shot and that none of the soldiersinvolved attempted to "approach the injured youths to either search themor provide medical assistance."

-------------------------------------------------------------------The full text of the address by Sinn Fein Assembly member MichelleO'Neill at the party's annual hunger strike commemoration in Dungiven,County Derry, last weekend.-------------------------------------------------------------------

A chairde agus a chomradaithe,

It is difficult to express in words the immense honour, pride andprivilege that I feel today, being asked to speak at this commemoration.

It is especially important for me as a Clonoe woman to be here in theheart of O'Cathain country. And might I add, it is great to see theDerry 'wans' admitting they need to listen to Tyrone now and again!!

But, in all seriousness, the rest of our island could learn a thing ortwo from the courage and consistency of County Derry down through thegenerations - the county which gave us five of the ten Hunger Strikersin 1981.

It is especially fitting to be here in the homeland of Kevin Lynch. Hewas born in Park village, just out the road. He played here as a child,went to school here, learned his skills with a caman, a sliotar and agaelic ball in these fields. It was here that he grew into manhood andbecame part of the struggle, before being captured by the Brits. Thisarea, like the homelands of all the Hunger-Strikers, has a special placein Republicanism.

So it is with a spirit of comradeship and a strength of unity that allof us gather here today. I want to particularly welcome the relativesand families of the Hunger-Strikers, and those of all our patriot dead.You were, and are, a constant inspiration to my generation.

I was only four years of age in the summer of 1981. Many of my relativesand friends, and my current colleagues and comrades, were older andactive during that time - some on the streets, some on the blanket, someon the run. Within this collective memory rests all our living historyas activists for freedom. And we should never, ever forget what we camethrough.

No role was too big or too small; no one was too old or too young; nopart was better or worse; each action was a vital step in our movement'scollective march of freedom.

The importance of political prisoners has never been confined to onegeneration of our freedom struggle. Writing in The Four Glorious Years,David Hogan recalled:

"From 1917 to 1921 the prison struggles gave the people new fortitude.That was particularly so about Terence McSwiney's death. It brought thespirit of Ireland's resistance to the very ends of the earth; anunquenchable devotion to liberty pitted against the perfect war machineof a great Power."

And so it was sixty years later, as hundreds of political prisonersstood in blankets on the frontline of the freedom struggle in Long Keshand Armagh; where they honed their skill and ingenuity as politicalactivists and thinkers; where some became elected to parliaments; andwhere the demands for Irish sovereignty were politicised andinternationalised as never before.

Hanging on the wall of the Sinn Fein office in Coalisland is a poem thatgives voice to that vision of freedom. It looks down on the work that wedo every day. Sometimes I take the time to think about its importance.It was written by Bobby Sands and is called the Rythmn of Time.

Its theme is internationalist, egalitarian and universal.

The final verse declares:

It lights the dark of this prison cell, It thunders forth its might, Itis the 'undauntable thought', my friend, That thought that says 'I'mright!'

Its strikes me that only something incredibly powerful could have lit upthe dark of the prison cells inhabited by our political prisoners duringthe long decades of war - whether in Ireland, Britain, Europe orAmerica.

Only a flame of freedom with unending reach, with unbending power couldhave shone any hope onto the darkness of the Blanket Protest andHunger-Strikes.

Only a beacon of hope with unlimited potential could have motivated ourmen and women activists to keep turning the pages of history in thebleakest of moments.

Only a torch of history which has been handed down over centuries couldever explain why all of us, at this rally today, still stand ready todeliver the Irish Republic for which our predecessors fought andstruggled and died.

Thirty years ago, from the ashes of Britain's failed criminalisationpolicy rose the phoenix of a risen Republican people, led by Sinn Fein'sdetermination and dedication to achieve freedom in our lifetimes.

Sinn Fein is now the third largest party on this island. We are the onlyRepublican movement. We are the only Republicans with a strategy tobring about Irish unity. We are the only collective of activistscarrying the glowing baton of national freedom and nationalreconciliation based on a framework of human rights, social justice andequality.

And no-one should be under any illusion: it is this generation ofstruggle which will reach the finish line of freedom - through oursustained focus on direction and strategy, and our relentless exhaustionof political and democratic tactics.

These are the undauntable thoughts, my friends, that lead us in our worktoday, that fill me with constant determination, and that light the roadto our new Republic.

Of course, there remains some distance for us to travel. There are stillinjustices to right, inequalities to address and a nation's wounds tobind up.

Some of the injustices relate to the north's prison regime, includingprisoners who oppose Sinn Fein and the peace process. Sinn Feinrepresentatives have regularly visited the prisons and met some of theprisoners. We will continue to demand that the British government,Dublin government, six-county Department of Justice, and others, shouldaddress the issues being raised on humanitarian grounds. In particular,I want to take this opportunity to reiterate Sinn Fein's consistent callfor the immediate release of Marian Price, Gerry McGeough and MartinCorey.

It is anyone's right to disagree with Sinn Fein's political and peacestrategies, and our practical promotion of the 1916 Proclamation and1919 Declaration of Independence. I will absolutely defend thatpolitical right.

But I will not condone their apolitical actions. They have noRepublican strategy and no political programme - and clearly some ofthem have no politics either. They are united only in their oppositionto the Sinn Fein strategy and in their desire to reverse politicalprogress. They fear the onward rise of Sinn Fein and only they canexplain why.

Mindless militarism, adventurism and egotism had no place in the Irishfreedom struggle in 1916, in 1971, in 1981, and it has no place in thissame struggle that we carry forward in Ireland today. Those who engagein such actions define themselves - not as political activists, not asfreedom fighters, not as Irish Republicans, but as the late Brian Keenanaccurately described them : "mindless gunmen for nationalism".

Those opposing the peace process with pointless violence should rememberthe challenge of James Connolly in 1897: "When you talk of freeingIreland, do you only mean the chemical elements which compose the soilof Ireland? Or is it the Irish people you mean?"

Gerry Adams, shortly after he became the Sinn Fein president in 1983,developed that theme further when he said: "We cannot free Irelandunless the people of Ireland want to be free."

I want you all to think carefully about that statement: "We cannot freeIreland unless the people of Ireland want to be free."

This places a huge onus on Republicans to address the realities ofstruggle and society as they exist today. Achieving true freedom willrequire the involvement of all the people of Ireland in the process,including our Unionist neighbours.

There is now a real, viable and effective democratic and political roadto Irish freedom and equality, down which the IRA walked seven yearsago. The IRA has left the political stage. I would call on everyRepublican to follow Sinn Fein and support our political project. Thosewho are promising young, and sometimes vulnerable, people nothing morethan imprisonment, injury or death should desist and disband.

The current phase of the peace process is moving towards a criticalmoment, where the new dawn of national reconciliation can begin to riseon a hurt society still scarred by the legacy of our conflict.

Our task today as Irish Republicans includes cultivating the roughmiddle ground to plant the seeds of a healthy and harmoniousrelationship between the Orange and Green cultures; nurturing a newnation in which all traditions are proudly valued, based on equality,dignity and mutual respect.

This will require us all to be brave and bold; to break new ground,shape new agendas, and explore new thinking. It will demand that each ofus becomes willing to hold the type of 'uncomfortable conversations'which Sinn Fein's leadership is currently conducting with members of theUnionist and Loyalist community.

This phase will not be easy. There are many legacy issues. But ourgeneration of Republicans has never been afraid to show leadership, trynew tactics, or develop new approaches. The prize of nationalreconciliation is too important for us to stand back from theopportunity we now have. We must move onto the ground before us,otherwise those who oppose change will enter the arena of debate to tryto maintain the old order and sustain the status quo.

There are some within the Unionist political class whose raison d'etreis stopping change. Their system of division, based on inequality andsectarian segregation, remains the cornerstone of partition. IrishRepublicanism is founded on the opposite qualities of equality andunity. Let that be our message to our Unionist neighbours in the timeahead as we talk to them about the new nation we are building.

The British government also has a massive role to play. It could startby butting out of our country once and for all! Disband the NIO. Devolveoutstanding powers. And take the Spooks back to London!

In the immediate term, the British government, and Irish government mustfulfil their outstanding commitments to the peace process. They mustprepare for, and become persuaders for Irish unity.

The British must disclose the truth about their dirty war. They must nowcall an immediate border poll, so that the people of this country candetermine their own future. And they must realise that the Agreement'spower-sharing, all-Ireland and equality provisions won't be reversed.

More and more Unionists see the good-sense and inevitability of Irishunity. We must, in the time ahead, harness that common-sense to buildthe policies of unity upon which all of us can rely in a new Ireland.

Across this island, the old establishment's Gombeen greed is leavinglegacies of pain. These legacies are punishing the infants of today withthe unrivalled political corruption of the Celtic Tiger's gangsters andbanksters. In the north, we are faced with fighting against ruthlessBritish Tory economic policy. This island is once again being robbed ofour young people through emigration, and those who stay are being robbedof a future by unemployment.

I want to praise the current national campaign of Sinn Fein RepublicanYouth entitled 'No Jobs, No Future, No Way', and would call on everyoneto support it.

Sinn Fein's consistent demand for a new way of doing things and adifferent solution to old problems is based on Irish citizens havingcontrol of our own affairs. This simple logic of self-determination isincreasingly winning public support through the 32 counties. Toparaphrase the banner of the Irish Citizen Army - in the years to come,'we must serve neither Britain nor bond-holders - but Ireland'!

For make no mistake, Sinn Fein's rise in the south isn't a passing tideof opposition. Rather, it is an unstoppable sea of change, with more andmore citizens motivated by our message, encouraged by our activism, andimpressed by our integrity.

We must ensure that these pillars of progress - our message, ouractivism and our integrity - are strengthened and widened in the timeahead. And if each of us committed to bringing one new member into SinnFein in the time ahead - just one new member- then imagine the scale ofchallenge and speed of change we could unleash against the old order.

So, a chairde, our roadmap is clear. Our destination is certain. Ourtactics are set. Our confidence is well-founded on our convictions. Ourvision is stoked by our values: independence; justice; peace; equality;a new nation based on authentic national reconciliation between Orangeand Green; and the end of the British state's jurisdiction on thisisland.

And we must never, ever forget that shining over all of these values isthe eternal flame of freedom which once lit the dark of the prisoncells, endured over three decades ago by Bobby Sands, Francis Hughes,Raymond McCreesh, Patsy O'Hara, Joe McDonnell, Martin Hurson, KevinLynch, Tom McElwee, Kieran Doherty and Mickey Devine and their othercomrades on Hunger-Strike and hundreds of protesting political prisonersin Armagh and the H-Blocks. And by Frank Stagg and Michael Gaughan.

So leaving here today, remember that, with this flame, we will createthe new Ireland which all of our children deserve to enjoy.

Under this flame, we will face down those on any side who would seek todrive us back into the tragedy of war or brutality of conflict.

Under this flame, we will stand together, campaign together, marchtogether, organise together, work together, face all-comers together,all bound by an unbreakable spirit of comradeship and unbending strengthof unity.

Under this flame, we will ignite "the undauntable thought that says I'mright", that says we're right : right to place equality at our core;right to tackle injustice in our midst; right to build a future with ourneighbours; right to raise the banner of justice and peace for all;right to end the outrage of partition; and right to fight - throughevery political and democratic tactic we have - for the ultimate prizeof national freedom and national reconciliation across this wonderfuland beautiful island of Ireland.